Family presents £19,000 to Epilepsy Action

Ronnie, Helen and James Coulter present a cheque to Morina Clarke of
Epilepsy Action Northern Ireland. (l-r) Jim Wells MLA, June Massey
(chair of the Council of Management at Epilepsy Action), Morina Clarke,
Helen Coulter, James Coulter, Ronnie Coulter.

HILLSBOROUGH couple Ronnie and Helen Coulter presented a cheque for a
magnificent £19,000 to Epilepsy Action Northern Ireland at Stormont,
after the funds were raised in memory of their daughter Caroline.

The Coulter family held a successful Ladies Charity Tractor Road Run
last month to raise funds and awareness, in memory of Caroline, who had
epilepsy and passed away suddenly on Christmas Day 2009, aged 25.

Ronnie and Helen presented the cheque to Morina Clarke, Epilepsy
Action Northern Ireland manager, at Stormont. The money raised will go
directly towards helping support people with epilepsy in Northern
Ireland. Three other families in Northern Ireland have also lost someone
to epilepsy and have recently raised funds for Epilepsy Action Northern
Ireland.

Morina Clarke said: It was great to see so many people out to support
people with epilepsy and Epilepsy Action Northern Ireland. Our new
identity, together with this very generous donation, will help us
continue to be a strong voice for people with epilepsy in Northern
Ireland. We also hope it will allow us to work with MLAs to improve
services for people with the condition."

As well as receiving the financial boost, the UK-wide charity was
celebrating the launch of Epilepsy Action Northern Ireland at Stormont
on Monday July 4.

The launch celebrated the new Epilepsy Action Northern Ireland
identity, which came into use on January 1 of this year. People from all
areas of the epilepsy community in Northern Ireland, including health
and education professionals and those directly affected by epilepsy,
attended the launch. MLAs including Lagan Valley's Paul Givan also
attended.

Epilepsy Action Northern Ireland has local branches across the
country which hold regular meetings and offer a variety of social events
and informative talks and discussions relating to epilepsy. Meetings
offer the opportunity for people to share their experiences of living
with epilepsy, and help to raise awareness of the condition in the local
community.

There are around 14,000 people with epilepsy in Northern Ireland and
around 1,000 of these are children. Epilepsy Action Northern Ireland is
dedicated to improving health services and educational support for
people with epilepsy in the country. For more information about Epilepsy
Action Northern Ireland, visit
www.epilepsy.org.uk